In a combined meeting for White Center, joining the Community Development Association (WCCDA) and the Chamber of Commerce area business owners were shown the most recent updates to plans for changes coming to White Center in a meeting Tuesday, April 10 at Be's Crawfish House.

New Community Website
Being built by Kathi Wheeler of Noise without Sound design the new site called www.visitwhitecenter.com will according to Wheeler, "be the chamber's site, but we will be using it to promote White Center on a whole as a great place to come eat, play and shop.

It will feature a calendar, business directory with listings and info on each business with lots of photos, a news feed, a facebook feed, and social media links.

On the home page "the main menu will be the business directory, events and news, neighborhood, and chamber links," said Wheeler.

"We will feature stories about businesses, etc. Exactly all the details of how things work are not 100% figured out yet. We are looking at the grant budget (Only in Seattle) money and making sure we fulfill those requirements as well and fit the budget. It will be similar to sites like www.CatchtheCulture.com in South Park but not as much copy about businesses as the funding isn't there to do that much photography and stories.

Wheeler expects that the site will be complete, or at least phase one will be ready by late July in time for the White Center July Jubilee Days happening July 14 -21, "with the balance added as we go," said Wheeler. You can see examples of the new website design in the slideshow or by clicking the links above.

Wayfinding Kiosks

Matt Tilton of Tilton Fine Metalsmithing rose to display a mini version of the way finding kiosks that he is constructing for the community. The design echoes the rings theme found in the White Center community logo and signage but puts them on their side to encircle the kiosk. Sitting on top is an image of Mt. Rainier over a small planting and down below are a map and an ID panel. There will also be a public space or bulletin board face but others will be plexiglass encased as long term information panels. Several phone numbers will be on the kiosks so people can be alerted if they require maintenance or repair. That work will be handled by volunteers.

One will be installed at the corner of 98th Ave. s.w. and 16th s.w. to be added to the existing kiosk. Satellite versions of the kiosk will be placed at Steve Cox Memorial Park on 102nd Street, at Greenbridge on 8th s.w., and one at the Super Savers Grocery store on 16th sw. Those versions would be posts with vinyl pointers for the neighborhood. Updates on the progress of the work can be followed on the Tilton Fine Metalsmithing Facebook page.

"The morning of spring clean this will be sitting on top of the kiosk," Tilton said referring to the White Center Spring Clean set for May 19. Tilton expressed his thanks for the volunteer labor that has gone into the project noting that he now has a crew of 8 that are working on it.

Empty Storefront Alternatives

Matthew Richter, Storefronts Program Manager for Shunpike.org an organization that fosters partnerships between business and art. Spoke about what they do which includes conducting Arts Business Clinics to Fiscal Sponsorship helping groups accept tax-exempt donations. What they are proposing in White Center which is "Neighborhood Activation." The empty storefronts in the community would be, under their auspices, "activated" meaning an art installation or other kind of display would go in the space for one to three months. The space would still be available for lease by the owner who would only have to provide a 30 day notice.

The program would pay the electric bill and insurance costs for the time in use.

The program has been successfully run in the International District, Pioneer Square and is coming to South Lake Union and Capitol Hill, and Rainier Beach.

Richter said the process increases, "brightness, beauty, and safety," by having something happening in an otherwise empty space.

They do three different kinds of activations. The first is a display installation. A static display by an artist or artists. Second is a more interactive display where the public can meet and talk with the artist at work and third is the 'pop-up' gallery or museum. One example is the Pinball Museum and this concept has actually turned into a real business, meaning the organization is also serving as a business incubator. Through a negotiation process they have found they can actually launch some of these temporary installations as full time businesses.

This isn't a free program however. There's a base fee that is charged to cover overhead of operating the program including making maps, signage, press releases, landlord negotiation, web presence, artist vetting, permitting and marketing. The costs for the program range from literally zero to $10,000 per year depending on the size of the neighborhood and how many activations are called for. For example two storefronts would likely be $1000 for the year. For the 3 to 5 storefronts in White Center the cost would be up to $5000 per year.
There's also a per project fee which is $1100.

ECOSS on Hazardous Waste

Alex Anderson and Stephanie Gowing from Environmental Coalition of South Seattle or ECOSS spoke about how they are available to help business owners deal with hazardous waste. Anderson covered how ECOSS can help business staffs deal with conservation measures through free training provided on site and spoke about Stormwater Management. Through the Hazardous Waste Workshop they are conducting they will help businesses with a voucher incentive and rebate program. It's a program through King County. "If you are a business and you have any sort of accumulated hazardous waste from paint to chemicals this program addresses that. The county will reimburse you for up to $500 on your disposal costs, splitting the bill down the middle with you."

Working Washington

Hector Chun from Working Washington spoke about a petition they are circulating which implore large corporations to provide more jobs and more equitable pay. The group looking squarely at Amazon.com hoping to get them to change their corporate behavior pointing out that they paid only 5.5% income tax.

Other business

Mikel Davila of the WCCDA spoke about the joint effort of several community organizations to get the Alcohol Impact signage up in area stores. Ellie Weiss of DubSea Bikes spoke about the Bike Repair Clinic coming up April 15 from 2 to 4 pm at the White Center Food Bank at 10829 8th Ave s.w. Last up was Peter Mort of July Jubilee Days who asked for business support for what is now among the oldest community celebrations in the state at over 80 years. They will print and distribute 12,000 programs for the week long event.